Harry Potter : Until
by Jaquelyne
Summary: Prequel to Goodbye to You by D. Torres and Jaquelyne. The story of how two boys who became men together found love


_Until_

By Jaquelyne & D. Torres

**_Part 1:  The Beginning_**

In different parts of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, two boys who had become men together were asking the same exact question.  Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley had been through hell and high water side by side.  If there was a fight, a Quidditch match or one just needed some brotherly council, either of them would be there for the other.  It was a friendship that had gotten them through six years in school.  They hoped that it would take them through their lives.  

The pair had fallen in love, but not with each other.  

Ron had finally admitted that he loved one Hermione Granger.  As was par the course for Ron and Hermione, they were currently in the middle of an argument.  The fight had been about Viktor Krum and the letters he would exchange with Hermione.  

"Why do you care that he writes me?" Hermione screamed at Ron.  She was tired of his tirades about Viktor.  

_"He shouldn't be writing you!  Isn't he 20 years old now?" Ron bellowed at her.  _

_"We are friends, Ron!  Just like you and I are! Just as Harry and I are friends!  If you can't handle that then get the hell out of my bloody life!"_

_Ron didn't know if it was because she had cursed.  Hermione always chided him and Harry when they said anything like that.  It might have been because she looked beautiful standing there screaming her head off at him in the Gryffindor common room.  He just couldn't take it anymore.  _

_She had turned her back on him and started towards the girl's dormitories, so Ronald Arthur Weasley did the one thing that he had never done to Hermione Elaine Granger, nor that she would ever anticipate.  He grabbed her wrist pulled her back towards him and before the shocked and annoyed Hermione could voice a complaint.  Ron, using his free hand, placed it behind the back of her head and drew her into their first kiss. All of the frustration and passion that he had felt in his sixteen years was poured into that kiss. _

_At first, Hermione did nothing.  She just stood there, eyes wide open as his lips were on hers.  But her heart took over where her mind had failed.  Hermione wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled this tall and lanky boy that had driven her insane for six long years closed her eyes and kissed him.  The entire common room cheered! They didn't break from the kiss, but they could hear Harry and Ginny screaming, 'It's about bloody time!' _

_The other Gryffindors were cat calling and whooping at the fact these two had finally kissed each other.  _

That kiss is what led to this night. Ron and Hermione had spent their sixth year falling hopelessly in love with each other.  Lavender and Parvati would whisper that this was the kind of love that was only told of in Shakespeare.  Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger still argued, but now they had a different, and far more enjoyable, way of making up. 

Harry James Potter was in love with someone completely different.  The girl that had stolen his heart did it in such a way; Harry knew that he couldn't live without her.  She had taught him how to live in the moment and allow life to happen.  Harry learned that there was nothing he could do to stop what happened around him.  Whether it was on the Quidditch pitch or in front of Voldemort, Harry Potter could only be who he was and nothing else.  

The woman that taught him how to live was Virginia Weasley.  

Ginny and Harry had become close friends after the fight at the Department of Mysteries.  He wanted to know how Ginny was able to keep going after everything she had been through. Harry spent the summer before his sixth year getting to know the enigma of Ginny.  She had helped him deal with the guilt of Sirius and Cedric.  She helped him survive through the pain of loss.  Ginny also taught him something that he had never truly learned, how to accept love.

Yes, Harry loved his friends.  He loved his parents.  He even loved his owl, Hedwig.  But Harry always had a problem accepting love from another.  Ginny was able to show him that Sirius's sacrifice was for love.  That he loved his godson enough to rescue him from the Department of Mysteries.  She explained that her own Mum loved him enough to try to fatten him up after being with the Dursleys.  Also that in their way, Ron and Hermione loved Harry.  

He could still remember the first time that Ginny had spoken those words to him. They had been sitting in the Gryffindor stands after a Ravenclaw – Hufflepuff Quidditch match.  Neither of them had paid much attention to the game even though they should have.  Harry was the captain of the house team now and Ginny was the second half of the explosive chaser pair of Bell and Weasley.  Katie and Gin were basically unstoppable on their brooms.  

_"After all this is over, what do you want to do with your life?"  Ginny asked him tucking her fiery hair behind an ear. _

_Harry sighed. "I hadn't really thought about it.  I expect that I will be an Auror. What about you?" He turned to look at her.  _

_"Well, I still have a year left after you leave, but I have been thinking about being a medi-witch. I just have to survive potions so I can take the NEWT level class." Ginny shrugged as she spoke. _

_His eyes met hers for a brief moment. "You would make a great healer.  Ginny you have helped me more than you know this year.  Thank you for that."  Harry reached out and took her hands in his. _

_"Oh, You're welcome Harry. One is glad to be of service." Her eyes caught his again and neither of them looked away.  _

_"Gin, I don't know how I would have made it through this without you. I…" His voice was caught in his throat.  Harry couldn't say the words.  A tear threatened to slide down his cheek.  _

_Ginny could see that he was trying to say something, but was unable to.  So, she took a chance. Removing one of her hands from his, she moved his glasses down his nose a bit.  Ginny reached up and brushed away the stray tear.  "Harry, I love you."  _

_He closed his eyes for just a moment allowing the words to wash over him. _

_When Harry opened his eyes to see her leaning closer to him, he closed the distance between them.  His lips met hers in a chaste kiss. Ginny's arms slid around his neck pulling him against her.  Harry opened his mouth a little touching his tongue to her bottom lip.  She opened her mouth allowing him to enter.  _

_Harry had always felt that Hogwarts was his home.  The Burrow in many ways was his second home, but he learned one more truth from Ginny Weasley that night.  She was his true home.  Nothing had ever felt this right in his life.  Dark Lords could come, Quidditch cups might be lost and his world could fall apart, but as long as she was there beside him, Harry Potter would be able to handle it all.  _

Harry and Ron had planned this night down to the last detail.  The love of their lives had no idea of the plans that had been made.  After owls back and forth between parents, meetings with Dumbledore and one afternoon sneaking to Hogsmeade they had planned to ask Ginny and Hermione to marry them.  

Yes, the boys knew they were young, but there was a war being fought.  None of them knew if they would make it out alive in the end.  It was better to love than to wonder what could have been.  Wasn't it? 

Harry understood what his fate might be.  He could very well die at the hands of Voldemort, but with the lesson that Ginny had taught him about living for today, Harry knew no other recourse but to marry her.  If something were to happen to him, she would be taken care of.  Those plans were already set with his barrister.  

Ron wanted to spend the rest of his life with Hermione.  They were seventeen years old and in the middle of a battle between good and evil.  He knew that she would have reservations about the whole idea, but Ron had petitioned his and her parents about his plans.  

The Grangers understood what their daughter faced at school.  They consented to this boy that their daughter loved without a doubt her hand in marriage. Henry and Margaret had contacted the Weasleys to help out with wedding costs if the girls consented to this wedding.  

Molly and Arthur were excited at the idea of their children's impending marriage, but wished it could have been after they were out of school.  They loved Harry and Hermione as their own and there was no one else the Weasleys could imagine marrying their two youngest children. 

All of the parents had given their approval to the boys plan.  Dumbledore had also agreed with the young men that they should not have any regrets going into battle.  He offered his services over the proceedings.  Albus would marry two more sets of wartime lovers.  The first set being James Potter & Lily Evans and Frank Longbottom & Alice Wallace.  He only hoped for a better outcome for Harry & Ginny and Ron & Hermione.   

Harry and Ron had told the girls that they were planning a romantic evening for both of them.  The only details that Ginny and Hermione were given were that they should dress up.  Hermione was told to prepare for an evening inside of the castle.  Harry explained to Gin that the two of them would be spending the evening at their favorite spot.  She knew this to be the lake.  

One person the boys had spoken to was Professor Lupin who had been training the four in advanced defense at night.  Professor Dumbledore had only wanted the instruction for Harry alone, but Ron, Hermione and Ginny refused to be parted from Harry.  Remus agreed to work off the strength of the group to protect Harry in battle.  Remus told them that a night off was exactly what was needed for the four teenagers.  

Moony of course played the part of a true Marauder and teased the boys about their upcoming evening.  He knew that James and Lily would have loved to know these four amazing young people, especially their son.  Harry had picked the perfect woman to love who in turn loved him without a doubt.  

Remus had recently learned what falling in love with the right person could do.  He had recently asked Nymphadora Tonks to marry him.  He knew first hand that the road to love wasn't always straight, nor did it always made sense, but when you find your true match, you are inexplicably drawn to them, and it is a wonderful journey.  Remus and Tonks were planning to be married over the Christmas holidays at Remus's family home.  They had invited everyone from the order as well as his students to watch the nuptials.  

The song by Sting inspires the title for this story:  Until (featured in the movie Kate & Leopold)

_One is glad to be of service. _This line was shamelessly stolen from Bicentennial Man. 

Alice Longbottom's maiden name was taken from the story of William Wallace.


End file.
